Author, screenwriter, and artist PATRICIA CLARK TAYLOR once lived, studied, worked, and traveled in the Middle East and other parts of the world. Now she publishes stories of her journey. Below, on this page, are her revolving 1970s photos of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Israel.

Says Patricia:

To date, this website about my amazing
desert journey has 43,133 global visitors with daily referred traffic that is unknown. Some years ago, I created it to introduce my first book, Unveilings,
A Desert Journey. Since that time, there is a revised
version of Unveilings; there's also a version in color
entitled Life, Love, and Religion in the Age of Petroleum.

THE ARRIVAL: In June of 1976, three years after the Arab Oil Embargo, a plane filled with American engineers and families (including pets) arrived from Rome in the dark of night in the midst of the Riyadh desert. The Riyadh Airport was a small white structure with a blinking red light on top. Inside the crowded waiting room, Arab families awaited our arrival with curiosity and amazement. After all, we were the aliens from another planet. What were we? Who were we? Friend or foe? We wondered the same about them. In the Riyadh airport lobby that night, I viewed women mysteriously veiled in black with men dressed in long white robes and red checkered headdresses. This incredible moment of arrival is one of the great memories of my life. I later wrote about it because, throughout decades of conflict, I continue to remember a moment when all of us in the airport that night (Arab or American) simply wished to know more about the "strangers" in the room.

BOOK EXPO AMERICA 2016

From the beginning of this writing journey, there was the idea to write a movie script. With the help of my
writing partner, Shelvy Snead, I finished the script at the end of 2015; and, in order to reach a wider audience, we published it in book format The
result is A Script Unveiled.

COPYRIGHT: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 2015

THE SCRIPT UNVEILED In the 1970s, authors Patricia Clark Taylor and Shelvy Snead were neighbors in a Maryland community on the Magothy River. For an entire decade, beginning in 1973, Patricia traveled with her engineer husband to Rome, Riyadh, and later to Israel. These were the years of the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo, the 1973 Arab Israeli War, the massive build up of Saudi Arabia, and a stronger American-Saudi alliance. These were also the years of peace plans initiated by Egypt's President Sadat followed by Israel's return of the Sinai to Egypt. With the murder of President Sadat, the Middle East fell more and more into chaos and Saudi became more and more powerful. During Patricia's return trips to Maryland, she related her stories of these dynamic years to neighbor Shelvy who encouraged her to organize her photos, notes, and many adventures and write them for others to read.

THE SCRIPT UNVEILED

Now, decades later, Patricia and Shelvy create a memorable screenplay epic story. "The Script Unveiled," a work of fiction, surrounds true, historic events as it follows the life of Catherine Turner, an American artist, who travels with her engineer husband and two sons. During these amazing years, the world changed drastically and Catherine’s life changed with it when she leaves her western world and enters a much different world filled with explosive, ever changing events

READER'S REACTION:

"I COULD NOT PUT THE SCRIPT DOWN UNTIL I FINISHED IT. THEN I CRIED FOR THIRTY MINUTES. I'VE NEVER READ ANYTHING LIKE IT. BRAVO!"

FOURTEEN YEAR OLD READER'S REACTION: "I JUST LOVED IT. MY FAVORITE CHARACTER IS BRAVE HASSA! AS FOR CATHERINE, THE ONLY PERSON TO PLAY HER IS ANN HATHAWAY!"

PATRICIA CLARK TAYLOR: "It took me, together with my writing partner, six years to write "The Script Unveiled." It's a uniquely complex story of life, love, and overpowering global events.

UNVEILINGS

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA

1976

WE LANDED IN THE DARK OF NIGHT AND AWOKE TO A
STRANGE NEW LAND.

WE BEGAN OUR NEW JOURNEY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE
DESERT

BEHIND HIGH WALLS.

MY ENGINEER HUSBAND, WAS FREED BY HIS WORK.

I WAS
LEFT TO FIND MY OWN WAY OUT. …

AND SO I DID...

I learned that our actions have consequences that reverberate

far into the future.

What we sow is what we reap.

It's a law of nature and a universal law.

ACROSS ROLLING DESERT SANDS...

BEYOND QUAINT DESERT VILLAGES...

I TRAVELED ON...

TO DHAHRAN

TO JEDDAH

TO CAIRO

TO ALEXANDRIA

TO TEL AVIV

TO CAPITOL HILL

TO MOSCOW

TO UGANDA

TO BENIN

AND TO PEOPLE AND PLACES BEYOND...

IN AN AGE OF PETROLEUM.

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of
life is when men are afraid of the light. ~ Plato